REVIEW: 6504 Tractor

[WhiteFang]

Hello all Eurobricks members and Town Lovers,

Today, I had managed to discover one of my old sets inside my storage boxes during my childhood and this is what I have found. A small blue tractor, produced in the late 1980s. Is it possible that TLG have plans for a Farm theme back then? Now, TLG has finally decides to implement the new City sub theme, known as the Farm theme which will be release in early 2009. I am anxious too.

Name: Tractor

Theme: LEGO System / Town

Year: 1988

Pieces: 27

Minifigs: 1

Price: Unknown

Resources: Brickset, Peeron

An image of a 6504, Tractor

Working on the farm on a bright sunny day

Blue tractor moving up and down, making sure the job is done well. Actually, I thought this was a regular digger for the construction vehicle. I checked Peeron and thought for a long moment, based on its actual name "Tractor". Therefore, I looked into the dictionary and found various meaning related. I have finally concluded to write this review from the perspective of agriculture and translate the use of "Tractor" into a farm tool.

A typical farmer in the 1980s

This farmer boy works hard in the field to ensure that that the citizens in Classic Town will have a bountiful harvest at the end of the year. His working attire comprised of a red dungarees design, red pants and even a red construction helmet. From far, he looks more like a regular construction worker which I have mentioned above. Maybe, a different helmet will make him looks like a farmer. I never knew a farmer wears a helmet while working. I thought a straw hat or a cowboy hat related, will be much of a better choice. I will leave this to the audience to decide.

Tractor's engine

The primary color scheme makes up of blue and black. The blue plate which covers the engine casing, reveal two 1x1 round brick hollow stud. This part is commonly used to illustrate the vehicle's engine. With the black cone's addition, it serve as a chimmy or exhaust pipe for releasing exhaust smoke. This is the overall concept of its engine. Let's take a careful look of the mechanism of its excavator arm and bucket. It is able to to lift the bucket to quite a considerable height based on the scale of this tractor. This is the main playability in this set.

Different angles of the tractor

Let's do some farm work, starting with this

This is one of my smallest earliest childhood set which I have managed to discover from the pile of old LEGO. I enjoyed the simple concept of this set which has the element of Classic Town touch. With a mere 27 pieces, it is able to construct a very impressive mobile tractor for small children to play with. It is versatile and is able to use it for farm or construction purposes. I have plans to use this and integrate it with next year CITY Farm 2009.

Summary review

Playability: 8/10 (The excavator mechanism is fun to play with, especially when you used it to scoop bricks)

Design: 8.5/10 (A very good and simple design which has Classic Town's touch)

Price: 10/10 ( A small set like this is very affordable, similar to current impulse sets range)

Overall: 8.8/10 (A lovely set with an affordable price)

I gave it a "4" based on my Review Score Card. What about yours?

Hope everyone of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Critics are strongly welcomed.

Pictures can be found in My Brickshelf (When moderated)

[LuxorV]

Thanks for this review, WhiteFang!

It reminds me of the good old days

I have a similar set, but with the yellow excavator, as it was in the Construction line: 6630 - Bucket Loader. It's one of my fav old sets

LuxorV

[Johnny 5]

Great review WhiteFang.

I love these small sets where so much is accomplished with just a few pieces.

This set reminds me a good deal of the 6512 Landscape Loader.

If you click on the link you'll see that I had in Oct 07 written a review on that set praising the great use of a few pieces similar to what you did here.

I apparently also used the review as my own personal soapbox complaining about the designs of recent sets at that time.

[Buttons]

I could have never thought of that much to say about such a small set.

Congrats on another perfect reveiw

[VBBN]

Well, I would consider this a digger, as this is a tractor:

Great review, and a great little set as well.

[Erdbeereis]

This is a really nice small set.

Although I agree that it seems more like a small digger than an actual tractor.

Digger:

Tractor:

My vote is for a name change! Anyway, thanks for the great review!

[WhiteFang]

Thanks guys for your kind words and those pictures references, it's nice to see some comparison. Oh, Brickster thanks for the frontpage. It was really unexpected.

Although this was a small set, but it took me a long while to decide the direction of this review approach. From what I observed, all "construction vehicles" used yellow as their primary color scheme. I don't remember there was any blue construction vehicles. Please correct me if I am wrong on this. I had done a quick check on set names in Brickset related to Tractors. I am very sure that the set names which is given by TLG should be linked in some ways. This set has the similar name too. Without the bucket and the arms, it looks more like a miniature tractor for the farmer to pull.

Since 2009 will be releasing a new farm set, and the color scheme for this set looks more appealing inside the farm barn instead of a construction site. These are some of the factors, which have determine the nature of this set.

[Freddie]

That tractor design is probably the most recycled design LEGO has ever done. A quick search reveals that it was also sold as another set, 1633, like this one but in yellow, and as small sub-models featured as cargo in 6541 (blue), 6542 (red) and 4563 (red).

It's cute though, altough I have to admit it looks more like a large lawnmower than a tractor with today's scale. And I have a suspicion that the lawnmower in the farm is bigger.

[legotrainfan]

Splendid review! I find small sets the hardest to review, because I never know much to tell about them.

For me it's a tractor. But due to the minifig's helmet it might be a construction vehicle. Is it? Is it not? I find it really difficult to tell.

[Zarkan]

Thanks for the nice review.

Personally, I gave this set a three. It's decent, and has a nice color scheme, but it's also a little plain and doesn't scream "tractor" that much to me. Also, the figure doesn't really seem like a farm worker - he's basically just a construction guy.

[simonwillems]

Thanks for this review, it is indeed amazing to see so much text on such a small vehicle.

I got this set as a child and spend hours playing with it (as a construction vehicle...)

This was a nice set to replicate: with very few pieces you could make a whole range of little tractors like this.

One remark I must make though: You used the wrong color for the seat: it should be blue instead of gray...

[WhiteFang]

Thanks everyone! It was not very easy to write its content for small sets, as most of us will feel that its nothing special because what you see in the box art is what you are going to get. I don't see it this way. Every sets deserve its own attention, no matter how small it is. It's part of System sets and part of its theme, which is always remembered by us such as Classic Town.

That tractor design is probably the most recycled design LEGO has ever done. A quick search reveals that it was also sold as another set, 1633, like this one but in yellow, and as small sub-models featured as cargo in 6541 (blue), 6542 (red) and 4563 (red).

Freddie, thanks for the additional reference. I never saw some of them before, especially the 1633. It's was almost 98% identical. I agreed with you that it's one of the design which TLG has used in the past, to introduce small sets or use it to be part of the bigger sets. Whatever the case, this might also prove that this is one of the nicer design which is receptive towards the children in that generation.

One remark I must make though: You used the wrong color for the seat: it should be blue instead of gray...

Simonwillems, oh my gosh. I must have be blind. With the very own reference picture in front of me, I never realised that the seat was replaced wrongly. If you have never pointed it out, I thought I managed to restore this set completely. Now, I have to find where is that blue seat. All this while, that grey seat was there for more than a decade.

Thanks!

[Alywin]

Nice small tractor!

Edited December 4, 2008 by Alywin

[Zarkan]

Simonwillems, oh my gosh. I must have be blind. With the very own reference picture in front of me, I never realised that the seat was replaced wrongly. If you have never pointed it out, I thought I managed to restore this set completely. Now, I have to find where is that blue seat. All this while, that grey seat was there for more than a decade.

Thanks!

Heh, no worries Whitefang - nobody else had noticed that until Simon did anyway. I guess blindness is a common problem among Town fans.

[Aredhel]

I really love this little set. Got that from my childhood and really enjoyed it then and now though I am not THAT big town fan in general.

Really nice little review!

-Aredhel

[Wily Manc]

I'm really pleased that you chose to review this little set WhiteFang; this was one of my first sets too. I admit I never thought of it as a farm vehicle, I just thought of it as a digger. That little dude in the dungarees was always one of my favourite minifigs - I've still got him in front of me right now.

4/5 for the set.